The Market on the Edge: Production, Consumption, and Recycling in Winter Houses of Transhumant Euro-Newfoundlanders

Summary

While the nineteenth century transformed North America through explosive growth in industrialization and consumerism, growth in Newfoundland, one of Europe’s oldest overseas colonies, was constrained by its harsh climate. Much like in centuries earlier, industrial-era Newfoundlanders continued to rely on its one fickle and seasonal resource – cod. To mitigate the erratic nature of this aquatic mono-crop, many rural Euro-Newfoundlanders participated in a form of transhumance spending up to six or seven months of the island’s longest and harshest season in isolated "winter houses" where they lived off the land while harvesting lumber. Despite their seeming remoteness, the residents of these winter houses still had to negotiate the market forces of the larger capitalist world. This paper explores the material culture associated with these winter houses and discusses the manner and ways its meaning was transformed in response to poverty, isolation, and market capitalism.